a particular way out of this

All shades of people talk

'what is to be done?'

a starting point leans out a tenement window

on the ashen street,

young yet in these dark times she says

'the world is on fire'

somewhere, the sun shines

on an oil tanker bobbing the Pacific,

moonlight falls on a suit and tie

embezzling someone's million dollars.

a man from twenty years of innocent prison time

is suddenly turnkey free

without a whisper of sorry

from the crooked bars.

perhaps justice begins with loving ourselves

and not salting the wounded world

quite so much...

clear a space for contrition,

forgiveness echoes forgiveness.

graffiti our tight dead habits

with news of

Wanting to make good.

poetry ends and begins again -

redemption is without source or edge,

the space beyond what we can cage

with our Knowing.

that girl skinned her knees

listening to the world.

here are the gravel and flesh bits

for you.